10 of the greatest Windows Mobile smartphones ever

0.phoneArena
09 Apr 2012, 12:11posted on

Peeking over the current crop of Windows Phone, devices like the Nokia Lumia 900, Samsung Focus S, Dell Venue Pro, and HTC Titan II easily all stand out as the premier of the crop, but long before them, Microsoft built its reputation around its aging Windows Mobile...

the funny thing is windows used to be like android is now.. anyone could lisence it and slap it on anything. And it was just like when android first came out.. there was a couple of stand outs in a sea of crap. Unlike android though, MS never learned their lesson and designed the phone to be more hand friendly. It also helps that chips are 3000x stronger than they used to be. Where androids have quickly become better en mass, windows never really did.

Things will come full circle with WP8 when MS reinstalls desktop compatibility on the phones. Maybe this time they will get it right.

saying if an os is multitasking or non-multitasking is not a way to say which os is similar to what... the whole way wp7 functions is on its own.. android and ios are similar in that u open an app to use it and it has a standard menu with options.. wp7 is constantly shifting between different apps and uses a much different viewing pane for it

that's just what it looks like. technically the homescreen on Android is an App. it's just like any launcher you download from the market. it's how you look at it but at the core Android is coded much differently to be used as a true multitasking platform while WP and iOS give up true multitasking to have smoother performance.

I had both the Omnia and Omnia II, verizon style. Yes, WinMo had a piss poor UI, but simply installing SPB Mobile shell, and later MSkip's Pro Plus Freedom addon, and they became virtually as good as any other phone at the time. The glaring exception was the resistive screens, which just weren't as good as capacitive.

I just recently re-did the Omnia II with an AMDZero custom ROM, SPB and MSkip, shut off the phone radio, and set it up as an MP3/Video player for my 10 year old son, since his iPod shuffle won't charge anymore. He loves it.

wow.. a lot of bad memories there. The HD2 is a huge POS. The palmW was too. The samsung i760 ended up not being so nice even though they were cool initially. Dont get me started on those absolutely horrible HTC Touch series phones.

The omnia and TouchPro2 are the stand outs in that field.

One thing this does remind me is how far HTC and Samsung have come from the cheap crap they used to make to the top devices they make now. I used to cringe when i saw an HTC logo on a phone.

Got to disagree! I've had my HD2 since the release date! It's my everyday phone! I've never had not even one issue with my HD2. It runs like a charm. I use my wife's HTC Radar at times Win Mo and WP devices have served me well. And prior to my HD2 I used my Nokia 6610 for 8 years!!!!! Now I'm just waiting for Nokia to release a 900 type phone on TMo then I'll upgrade again.

i got excited as i was starting to read this article but i ended up quite disappointed and yet satisfied at some point i agree with the HD2's impressive early adaptation of big screens and 1ghz processors but im disappointed as my old wMo samsung Omnia II is not included thats a good phone though but too laggy it has the 1st 800mhz but after a year 1ghz arrived haha memories i just remember what i said exactly when im thinking of getting an HTC HD2 "too big it looks like a portable t.v" hahaha and now smartphones regularly has a screen size of 4.3-4.7 hahaha technology.. very impressive

Yeah, I remember the OMNIA II having that cool design in the rear, but by the time of its release, WM was going out the door. Personally, I'd like to see more portrait style QWERTY Windows Phones - things like the Palm Treo Pro and HTC Snap.

i remember the Omnia quite well. my dad had one and when he was through using it as his primary it became my custom ROM playground. xD the HD2 and the TG01 were pretty nice too. one phone i was surprised to not see make the list was the TouchPro 2. REALLY nice phone and it was a rarity on most Carriers (which btw launched on ALL major US Carriers) on launch because those bad boys were selling like hot cakes. o:

I'm glad the Sony Xperia made the list. It's funny to see how far smartphones have come. Many things that are so common in today's market were started with Windows Mobile first. I actually remember wanting a Samsung Epix. Still, I'm glad Microsoft is now aiming for a more cohesive and smoother experience and ecosystem with Windows Phone 8. Now if only manufacturers weren't so LAZY and started to make some different hardware designs. Like, IDK, many more Windows Phones with QWERTY keyboards. I need my keyboard.!

I do not look forward to the day when I must go from The perfect keyboard ever produced for a phone to one where I must jam at on screen buttons in hopes to convey my trivial ideas to others at such an accelerated rate as per my mind being spoiled by such a magnificent keyboard.

i think it was nice to mention that thanks to "htc hd2's specs" it's a "Multy OS" device
i have one, and now i have android 4.0.4 on it and if i want, i can change it to wp 7.5 refresh
it's just something you do see much these days

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